For information on how to apply for beamtime click here

Principal Investigator: Russell Hemley, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago rhemley@uic.edu
Beamline Scientist/co-Principal Investigator: Zhenxian Liu, Department of Physics, University of Illinois Chicago zxliu@uic.edu

The Frontier Synchrotron Infrared Spectroscopy Beamline under Extreme Conditions (FIS or 22-IR-1) is one of the first synchrotron infrared (IR) beamlines at the NSLS-II and a new home for the high-pressure infrared user community. The successor of NSLS-U2A, FIS has adopted a novel design feature of the NSLS-II – the large-gap IR dipole – to provide unparalleled brightness and more than an order of magnitude greater flux compared to U2A throughout much of the IR spectrum. Synchrotron IR light was first delivered to the front end-station on April 24, 2019 and subsequent general user operation began May 1, 2019.

As an integrated optical facility for far-IR to UV absorption and reflectance spectroscopy using synchrotron and conventional sources, together with laser Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy, FIS enables a wide variety of experiments. The facility also provides basic tools such as a portable ruby system for pressure calibration, a micro-Raman system, and a sample preparation workstation, for all users who carry out high-pressure experiments at NSLS-II. The state-of-the-art facility supports a wide range of micro-spectroscopic studies at a broad range of pressures (to over 300 GPa) and temperatures (from 5 K to several thousand K).

This facility provides unique capabilities for diffraction-limited IR measurements of diamond-cell samples in cryostats or under laser heated hot spots from the far to mid-IR spectral range to address problems ranging from outer solar system bodies to the Earth’s core, complemented by studies in materials science, condensed-matter physics, chemistry, and biology at extreme conditions.